Latest Motorsports News (Week 4 April 2018)

Third Indy Grand Prix title for Josef Newgarden

Josef Newgarden is the man in focus right now having won his third Indy Grand Prix title of Alabama in 4 years. Newgarden put up a solid display of driving leading most of the way after starting out at the pole. This was his second win in the first four races this season. He led from the front closely followed by rivals Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and rookie Robert Wickens. Newgarden took his second pit stop with 15 minutes left on the clock but by then he had built up a significant lead over his competitors at the Barber Motorsports Park. They had to switch to rain tires for the stretch run while Sebastian Bourdais decided to stay on track skipping the endeavour to try and get one up on Newgarden. Bourdais finally gave in pitting with 7 minutes left on the clock and after he relented there was none else to challenge Newgarden.

Johann Zarco stubs Honda for KTM

Johann Zarco is all ready to join the KTM MotoGP team in the upcoming 2019 season. He has reportedly declined an offer from Honda to accept his position at KTM. Both Honda and Suzuki have been linked with Zarco for quite some time now but it seems that their efforts have finally borne no fruit. The Tech 3 Yamaha rider was reportedly involved in talks with KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer and Thomas ThomasUberall during last weekend’s Austin rounds. There have been reports of a verbal agreement being reached between them. The deal as reports suggest is secured will see Zarco tied up until the end of the 2020 season to KTM Motorsports. Zarco was the subject of major speculations during the Qatar GP where he expressed his desire to join the Honda “dream team” comprising of reigning champion Marc Marquez but then reports suggest that it is the same point that has been instrumental in his deciding to skip Honda. Reports suggest that he would rather not share garage space with Marc Marquez.

John Booth leaves team Rosso

Director of racing since 2016 in Toro Rosso’s team former Manor Formula 1 boss John Booth has thrown in the towel. His departure from team Toro Rosso has been confirmed. Booth left Manor F1 at the end of 2015 and after a brief break came back to Toro Rosso’s F1 team to coach for two years. But since then Manor having achieved the LMP1 category have ramped up their sportscar efforts and this has prompted Booth to step back from active F1 participation. Amid speculations that his exit might be because of Honda’s arrival as a partner Booth has come out openly stating that this was not the case and that he thinks he is simply too old for F1 now. He has stated that he wants to concentrate on LMP1 for now and have a lot to offer for future prospects.